Sam Bettens (50) has many stories to tell. That much is clear after his episode of 'Het huis'. One of the most poignant is that of a failed adoption, just before Sam and his partner Stef had their first child Charlie. “Suddenly the hospital door opened again and the car seat came out. Without a baby.”

Sam and Stef have two adopted children, Charlie and Jett. Charlie almost hadn't been their first child. “Before Charlie arrived, we had parents change their minds,” says Sam. “We were about to leave the hospital with a baby. We had just talked to the pediatrician, he had given us a bag of baby food and an explanation for the next few days. And we had already fitted our seat in the car.”

Suddenly the door of the hospital room where the parents were, closed. Sam and Stef were in the hallway. “The door opened again and the car seat came out. Without a baby.” With private adoption, a kind of surrogacy, parents can only sign away their rights after birth. They are given a few days to change their mind. In this case, it was the father who opposed the adoption. “The father refused to give the baby to a lesbian couple,” explains Sam. “He said no way. That's heavy."

Sam and Stef went back to the hotel, where the clothes for their baby were ready and the bed was already set up. “We cried all night. We flew home without a baby.”

Indescribable

Eight (8) Croatian nationals have pleaded not guilty to the offence of attempted trafficking in four children of Congolese origin on the Zambian territory.

Appearing before Ndola Chief Resident Magistrate Dominic Makalicha on Tuesday morning, the four couples told the court that they understood the charge but were not guilty.

Particulars of the offence are that Damir Magic aged 44 and seven others on 7th December 2022 in Ndola on the Copperbelt Province jointly and whilst acting together did attempt to traffic a child namely Beatrice Magic within the territorial boundaries of Zambia for the purpose of exploitation.

The offence is contrary to section 3A (1) and 12 of Human Trafficking Act No.11 of 2008 as Amended by Act No.16 of 2022 of the laws of Zambia.

The Croatian suspects are Damir Magic aged 44, his wife Nadica Magic aged 45, Subosic Zoran aged 52, his wife Azra Imamovic Subosic aged 41, Ladislav Persic aged 42, his wife Aleksandr Persic aged 40, Noah Kraljevic aged 45 and his wife Ivona Kraljevic aged 36.

A division bench of the high court gave bail to Chanda and Deepak Kochhar, arrested last month for a loan fraud case filed in 2019, on the ground that not disclosing true and correct facts cannot be the reason for one’s arrest.

—-

IN a significant decision, the Bombay High Court on Monday declared the arrest of Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI bank managing director and chief executive officer, and her husband, businessman Deepak Kochhar, illegal, holding that their non-disclosure of true and correct facts cannot be a reason for their arrest inasmuch as the right against self-incrimination is provided for in Article 20(3) of the Constitution.

The duo were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (‘CBI’) last month in lieu of a first information report (‘FIR’) registered against them in 2019 in a case linked to alleged irregularities in a Rs. 3,000-crore loan provided to the Videocon Group when Chanda Kochhar was heading the private sector bank. Both are facing charges under Sections 120B and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 7 and 13(2) read with 13(1)(d) (this latter provision was removed by a legislative amendment in 2018) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj K. Chavan found the arrest of the duo not in accordance with the law as there was non-compliance with the mandate of Sections 41(1)(b)(ii), 41A and 60A of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code (‘CrPC’).

Dahod (Gujarat), Jan 7 (IANS): Police in Gujarat's Dahod have arrested four people for the illegal adoption of an infant.

Dahod Child Protection Officer S.K. Taviyad told IANS: "We had received specific information about an illegal adoption. On January 5, along with local police and Child Welfare Committee members, we carried out search at Ritadevi and Vijay Chauhan's residence and found a month-old infant. Upon inquiry, it was found that they were not the biological parents of the child, but had adopted him from Ramilaben and her husband Raisingh Bhabhor."

The Chauhans also admitted that they got a birth certificate for the boy in the name of Suryakumar Vijay Chauhan.

After verifying all details, Taviyad lodged a complaint against Ramilaben and Raisingh for intentionally abandoning the child and against Ritadevi and Vijay for the violation of Juvenile Justice Act's adoption procedure.

The Chauhans were also booked for forgery.

The sources added that it became a surprise for the lawyers in the apex court corridors, when the CJI came to the first court with his two daughters.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI), Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, on Friday brought his two foster daughters to visit the Supreme Court.

According to top court sources familiar with the development, at around 10 a.m., the CJI brought his two daughters, who are differently-abled, to the courtroom from the public gallery.

The sources added that it became a surprise for the lawyers in the apex court corridors, when the CJI came to the first court with his two daughters.

A source said that Chandrachud could be heard telling his daughters, "See, that is where I sit", as he took them on a tour of the apex court premises.

In this report, Deji Lambo writes on the tortuous journey of a mother of three, Fortune Obhafuoso; her failed plan to make her life better through surrogacy; and other risky episodes that culminated in a policeman allegedly conniving with yet-to-be-identified persons to pay her N185,000 after collecting her newborn against her will

Fortune Obhafuoso, 35, was embittered as she gave an account of how her day-old child was taken from her at a Lagos State police formation where detectives investigating high-profile criminal cases are domiciled.

The mother of three said after the baby was taken, a policeman, Samuel Ukpabio, threatened her never to return for the child.

Afterward, she was conciliated with N15,000 and thrown out.

“All I want is my baby; I gave birth to him around 12.30am on Friday, December 23, 2022, and immediately named him Joseph. I only breastfed him once because, on the same day I gave birth to him, I was arrested and taken alongside my three children to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos State.

Introduce…

Fiom is the center of expertise in the field of unwanted pregnancy, distance & adoption and related questions. We offer information and help with unwanted pregnancies, information and aftercare in the field of adoption and guide people in their search for biological family in the Netherlands and abroad. We also manage the KID-DNA Database, which enables a match between a donor child and an anonymous donor.

The starting point of working at Fiom is the right of self-determination of unwanted pregnant women, the right of a child to know where it comes from and to grow up while retaining its own identity. In addition, we recently started with the establishment and design of the Expertise Center for Intercountry Adoption . We do all this with approximately 85 passionate employees from our offices in 's-Hertogenbosch and Houten and from our home workplaces.

Fiom has the Dutch representation of the International Social Service (ISS) network in its organization. ISS is an international social work organization with headquarters in Geneva and a network in more than 100 countries. Within Fiom, the ISS department, with the help of its international network, is involved in international searches for first- or second-degree relatives of the seeker (both adoption-related and non-adoption-related).

For team ISS we are looking for a

Girl adopted by Australian couple 15 years back now searches for her biological mother in Odisha It was way back in 2007 when Mamata, who was only a three-year-old kid, was rescued from near Puri Sighadwara. Later, she was handed over to Basundhara Childcare Centre in Cuttack.

“Knowing that she is afflicted with leprosy, she took a harsh decision and let me go. She is a great mother as she did it for me so that I can lead a decent life.” These lines from a daughter for her mother are enough to melt one's heart.

These excerpts are from a letter written by Mamata, who was adopted by an Australian couple some 15 years back in Odisha, to Puri Childline Director.

Girl adopted by Australian couple 15 years back now searches for her biological mother in Odisha It was way back in 2007 when Mamata, who was only a three-year-old kid, was rescued from near Puri Sighadwara. Later, she was handed over to Basundhara Childcare Centre in Cuttack.

“Knowing that she is afflicted with leprosy, she took a harsh decision and let me go. She is a great mother as she did it for me so that I can lead a decent life.” These lines from a daughter for her mother are enough to melt one's heart.

These excerpts are from a letter written by Mamata, who was adopted by an Australian couple some 15 years back in Odisha, to Puri Childline Director.

Finding a surrogate in Colombia is as easy as buying or selling a second-hand car in the classified ads. One need only go on Facebook to find dozens of ads: “Surrogate for hire, I’m from Colombia,” says one. “Hello, I am interested in becoming a surrogate. Strong womb and pregnancies without complications,” reads another. Like a huge auction, the messages compete with each other to offer potential clients what they believe are the most advantageous conditions. On these same websites, buyers make their demands clear. In general, the interested parties are looking for what any customer would seek in a classified ad: good quality at a fair price.

In Colombia, buying babies through surrogacy is becoming increasingly common. This practice – which is prohibited in Spain, France, Germany and elsewhere – is not regulated in Colombia. Dozens of agencies and clinics take advantage of that legal vacuum to do business, usually with foreigners who go to the Andean country looking for a surrogate and as little red tape as possible.

Yamile is a 33-year-old from Barranquilla. She is one of the women who advertising her services as a surrogate in an online forum. “We have a clinic here that does the whole procedure for you, and I have a cousin who takes care of all the paperwork for us,” she tells a potential client over the phone. Yamile can’t bring herself to say when she will be paid.

- How much are they offering?

- 20 million pesos [about $4,000].